


What You Want vs What You Need

by Taitai83



Series: Music-Inspired Fics [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged Up, One sided reveal, accidental reveal, friends tell it like it is, girls night, now with a Chat-centric epilogue, now with an Alya-centric coda, rated T because they're like 21-22 and they act like it, this is 100 percent fluff, this was supposed to be a one-shot someone help me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-07 07:11:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19080061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taitai83/pseuds/Taitai83
Summary: The girl squad has a ladies night. You need your friends' perspectives in relationships. AU in which these kids DON'T discover their soulmates when they're all 14 and actually have to go through dating in their early 20s like the rest of us.





	1. Girls' Night

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "Here's to Finding a Good Man" by Danielle Peck, which I rediscovered on an old device.

The chatter and laughter filled the small space of Marinette and Alya’s apartment as the six girls settled (and resettled) themselves around the various seating spaces in the combined dining/living area, pouring each other glasses of wine and arranging the bowls of snacks for their convenience. The gossip and news of the last month was shared around, all of them having heard most of it before, but not all together. It was all easy and comfortable, and Marinette always marveled a bit that the varied personalities in this group could have stayed such good friends for so many years.

After a while, there was a brief lull in the conversation.

“Ladies, ladies! Allow us to commence the proceedings!” Alya declared with mock formality. “First order of business, a review of the most recent inventory! Jacques?”

“Liar,” answered Alix, rolling her eyes.

“Adán?”

“Cheater,” called back Mylene, adding a middle finger to no one for emphasis.

“Peter?”

“Pumpkin eater,” came Marinette’s reply.

The five other girls stopped and stared at her incredulously.

“What the hell does that even mean?” asked Alix.

“Mama’s boy,” Marinette answered, a touch defensively.

“In what universe does ‘pumpkin eater’ mean ‘mama’s boy’?” the pink-haired girl challeneged. “It sounds like a dirty joke.”

“Peter Peter pumpkin eater, it’s a nursery rhyme, because he never left the nursery,” she looked around at the skeptical, amused expressions on her friends. “It’s _clever!_ ”

“Yeah, ok, whatever. ‘Pumpkin eater’ is not going to become a _thing_ , but I’ll let you have it for that one since it does go with his stupid name,” Alya conceded.

“You are the epitome of grace, oh wise and beneficent leader,” Marinette replied with a small bow in Alya’s direction.

“You know it, girl,” she said with a wink. “Does anyone have any updates this month?”

Rose raised her hand.

“Rapha came back and told me he loved me too,” she said, her voice so soft as to be almost unintelligible.

“… Iiiiis that a bad thing?” asked Alix.

“He doesn’t mean it. He just doesn’t want me to leave. I’m ‘good’ for him, apparently.”

“Ouch.” Alya’s sympathy was echoed in the murmurs and arm pats from the rest of the girls.

“It’s ok, girls. I mean, fuck him, right? I’m good for _ME_ too.”

Rose blinked at the shocked faces staring back at her. “What?”

“Rose, girl,” Alya was the first to break the stunned silence as the incredulous grins started growing on the rest of their faces. “I think that is the first time I have ever heard you swear!”

The dam burst and fits of giggles and laughter burst out of all of them, Alix’s guffaws louder than the rest.

“Yes, fuck him!” Alya declared, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. “A toast! To all those liars, cheaters, ‘ _pumpkin eaters_ ’, and ‘I love you too’ soothe-sayers who don’t deserve us!”

She leaned forward, holding her glass toward the center of the group, and was met with calls of ‘cheers!’ and ‘yes, fuck them all!’ as the other 5 girls clinked their glasses in a mass.

-

Three bottles of wine deep in the evening, the talk shifted from mocking their exes to finding the good ones. Mylene, her cheeks flushed and lips loosened from the alcohol, surprised everyone by demanding the topic change.

“Ok, ok, so they all suck, but if you got to create your perfect guy, or girl,” she added with a glance at Juleka. “What kind of person would you make?”

“An artist,” answered Juleka. “Someone with an introspective soul.”

“You can have Rapha,” Rose replied. “But it turns out that introspective souls aren’t that good at thinking outside of themselves.”

Alya laughed. “Girls, you know me, I just want a good kisser.”

“Not just for making out, Alya, like a partner,” Mylene corrected her.

“I don’t want a partner, no one can handle me anyway.”

“That’s what you tell yourself to keep yourself from getting hurt.” Marinette was a lot more blunt after several glasses of wine.

“Ouch, girl,” Alya frowned at her playfully, but there was an edge of real hurt in her voice. Marinette felt guilty for a split second, but decided she didn’t regret saying it.

“Ok ladies, I have a new plan,” Alix took the floor by tapping her ring loudly on her glass. “It’s obvious from our _inventory_ that we all suck at picking partners for ourselves, so here’s my new proposal: We each answer Mylene’s question, what we all want in love, and then everyone else here is going to tell us what we actually _need_."

Alya’s smirk grew slowly across her face.

“Alix, I LOVE it! Who’s first?”

“Why, you are Miss ‘I just want a good kisser’! Ok, I understand your stance to be ‘I don’t want a partner, I’m happy on my own, I just want someone to make out with’, would you say that’s correct?”

“Yes,” Alya crossed her arms defensively.

“Ok ladies,” Alix continued. “And what does Miss Alya actually need in a partner?”

“Easy going enough to go along with her investigating and scheming,” Mylene answered.

“But still able to tell her when she’s out of line,” Juleka chimed in.

“Tall and strong enough to carry her bodily from the danger she tries to get into during akuma attacks,” Marinette glared gently at her best friend.

“Yeah, yeah, ok ladies, when you find Mr. Perfect you be sure to give him my number,” Alya rolled her eyes.

“Nino already has your number.” The mischievous smirk on Rose’s face had surely never been seen there before.

The laughter that rang throughout the room was deafening, lasting longer than was strictly warranted, but hey, they were all a little tipsy and it wasn’t every day that Rose got a dig in on Alya.

“Rose, my dude,” Alix was still wiping the tears from her eyes as she wrapped an arm over her shoulder. “I will forever be in your debt for THAT expression on Alya’s face. That was priceless!”

Rose laughed and turned back to Alya. “Though, I don’t have any intel on his kissing ability, sorry, you’ll have to find that out for yourself.”

“OKAY, that’s enough about ME, thank you all very much, and stop trying to ruin my friendships by throwing romance into the mix, Nino and I aren’t like that!”

“Could be if you’d give it a chance,” Juleka said quietly.

Alya turned on her. “Ok then, let’s talk about Juleka’s artist next.”

“I maintain that ‘introspective souls’ aren’t good in relationships,” Rose spoke up again.

“Jules, I actually think you need someone OUTgoing, someone to draw you out more,” Marinette chimed in kindly.

“Hard agree on that one, M,” Alya added, as Mylene nodded her agreement.

“Totally,” Alix agreed. “And not just outgoing, but cheerful and happy. You always smile more when you’re around Rose, you need more of that in your life.”

No one commented on Alix’s name drop, as it hadn’t seemed to be intentional and awkwardness always ended the night early.

“Ok then, Marinette next!” Alya managed to make the transition feel natural, as always. “What do you WANT in a man, M?”

“I want someone kind, first and foremost. And smart. And they have to like animals, because I plan on having pets in my life.”

Alix rolled her eyes. “So Adrien. What you’re telling us is that you want Adrien.”

“No, not ADRIEN, thank you! My ridiculous crush was years ago, we’re actually friends now!”

“But you still want Adrien,” Mylene said, as all the other girls nodded.

“And this is what we’re here for, ladies. Ok Marinette, I’m going to tell you the things you need to hear. Adrien is boring,” Alix said bluntly. “He’s stupidly pretty and polite to a fault and totally boring.”

“Hey! He is not BORING. He just has to maintain a public image, so he’s really practiced at being polite and-“

“And boring.” Alix was not dissuaded. “No M, what you need is a bad boy.”

Marinette frowned. “Bad boys aren’t my type.”

“Maybe not an actual ‘bad boy’, but you need someone with an edge, to cut through your own sweetness. You need someone who would cut a bitch if anyone crossed you,” Alya chimed in.

“You need a bad boy who’s a good man,” Mylene said thoughtfully.

“You need a Chat Noir!” Rose exclaimed.

Marinette froze.

“… Chat Noir?” she asked skeptically.

“Not LITERALLY Chat Noir, but _A_ Chat Noir. A bad boy who’s a good man. He’s got the swagger and looks and fierceness, and you know he’s a good guy because he’s a literal super hero who’s got someone as amazing as Ladybug trusting him.” Rose declared. 

“Rose, I LOVE it, and I’m going to start using it in every-day life to describe the unicorn that is a guy like that,” Alya responded. “And you’re totally right, that kind of a guy would be perfect for Marinette.”

“Haha, yeah, ok guys, Chat Noir. I’ll get right on that, anyone have his phone number?” Marinette answered with forced sarcasm. 

She was so preoccupied with throwing them off that she didn’t see Alix’s smile turn devious.

“You know, Marinette,” she drawled dangerously. “Alya makes a good point about Chat Noir being a unicorn among men. I doubt you’re going to be able to hunt down the _actual_ Chat Noir, and guys like him aren’t exactly a dime a dozen.”

“Well, yeah, that’s kinda my point.”

“So, what about the next best thing? What about turning Adrien _into_ Chat Noir?”

“And how many times at these girl’s nights have we discussed how impossible it is to change a guy to suit our wants and needs?” Juleka retorted.

“First of all, Jules, I think that’s the longest sentence I’ve heard from you in one go in over a year, so cheers, have another drink because I need more of that,” Alix replied pouring the remaining ¼ of a wine bottle into Juleka’s glass. “And second, point taken, I will rephrase, what about _unleashing_ Adrien’s inner ‘Chat Noir’?”

“What the hell are you even talking about Alix?” Alya had reached the point in the evening where she started adding unnecessary emphasis words, but no one mistook it for aggression.

“I’m talking about poor, perfect,  _boring_ Adrien having an inner bad boy none of us have ever seen! No, no, hear me out,” she added, as she was met with skeptical looks and Rose opened her mouth to protest.

“The boy has been under his old-man’s thumb since he was 13 years old, he never had any teenage rebellion, he’s never even been on a date with anyone his father didn’t pick, as far as any of us know.” Alix looked around, but no one contradicted her.

“What I’m saying is, that boy has been repressed since the very beginning of puberty. Just imagine what kind of pent up energy could be simmering under the surface. Can you imagine being on the receiving end when it’s finally unleashed? Man, even I’D volunteer for THAT service, and you guys know how I feel about blondes.” She rubbed her hands together with glee as the other girls snickered into their wine.

Alya nudged Marinette. “Ok there you go, M, your future is all set! Plan A: pin down Chat Noir himself. Plan B: lure out Adrien’s deep and long repressed, and maybe non-existent, bad boy-self instead. You’re welcome! Next up: Rose!”

As the conversation moved on to Rose’s desire for a romantic optimist, Marinette, once she recovered from the mental image of her _pinning down_ Chat Noir, slipped into ruminations on her two favorite blonde-haired green-eyed boys. She’d never thought about Chat as a ‘bad boy who’s a good man’, mostly because she’d never really considered him a bad boy to begin with. But then, the general public didn’t see far past the black leather super-suit and definitely didn’t know how dorky his sense of humor was. But the girls were right that he was fierce in his protection of what mattered, herself included.

And then there was Adrien. She had never considered that he might be concealing a part of himself that wouldn’t fit with his cultivated public image, but that would make sense. Among their small group of close friends, he was definitely looser, especially with his love of comic books and video games, but what if there was more? What would it be like to be let behind the curtain, to be the _only_ one let behind the curtain? Was there even a curtain at all? She had sometimes imagined she saw a spark behind his eyes at certain comments that could be twisted to have innuendo, but it had never occurred to her to challenge him on it. What if she did? Would he act more like Chat if she treated him like she treated Chat?

After the wine was gone, Rose had fallen asleep on the table, and Alix had called a taxi for the four of them, Alya and Marinette waved off their friends and rolled into Marinette’s bed.

“You ok, M?” Alya slurred a little bit.  “You got kinda quiet after your turn in the hot seat.” 

“Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m fine Alya, I just got a little headache, you know too much wine does that to me.”

“Yeah ok, girl, you don’t have to make excuses with me. And you also know not to take girls' night harassment to heart, right? It’s all in good fun.”

“I know, Alya,” Marinette smiled at her best friend. “But it did give me some things to think about.”

“Well if you want to talk about it when we’re sober, I’m there for that too!”

Marinette laughed. “I’ll call you if I need you. But for now, I need sleep!”

Heads still spinning a bit, they finally drifted off.

 


	2. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrapping this up with a Chat-centric epilogue

Chat Noir sat on the edge of the rooftop, idly swinging his legs and smiling to himself. He kept replaying the conversation he’d had with Nino earlier and it made him grin every time.

“Apparently Alix thinks you’re repressed, and that someday you’ll snap and ‘unleash your inner Chat Noir’ and it’s going to be epic. She even volunteered for the service, and coming from Alix, that’s saying something, bro.”

He supposed he should feel a little guilty for hearing about it, but hey, it was Alya who broke the girl-code in the first place by telling Nino, and it was Nino who broke the friend-I’m-secretly-sleeping-with-and-we-both-pretend-it’s-casual-while-we-ignore-our-mutual-feelings-for-each-other-but-she-is-definitely-not-my-girlfriend-code, or whatever, by telling him.

Chat couldn’t help but laugh a little, both at the potential for the pun, and at the irony. He supposed it was natural, as Adrien he _did_ have to act like he didn’t have basic human emotions about 50% of the time, which put him out of practice at it for the other 50%. But, of course, he already had ample opportunity to let out his ‘inner Chat Noir’. He grinned at the thought.

A soft thump behind him drew his attention.

“I heard a funny story about you recently, Chaton,” came the sweet musical voice of Ladybug. 

“And what was that, My Lady? Was it the one about the fishing pole?”

She laughed lightly as she dropped down beside him. “No, you’ll have to tell me that one, sounds like a laugh.”

“Puuuurhaps I will, AFTER you tell me yours,” he nudged her gently with his shoulder.

“ _Well_ , my friends and I were talking the other night about the characteristics we want in a partner,” she began, and Chat’s attention pricked right up. It was unusual for Ladybug to talk about anything so personal, even without identifying information.

“ _Apparently_ , you, my dear, sweet Kitty, are ‘a bad boy who’s a good man’. One of my friends went so far as to declare you a unicorn among men and that she’s going to start using ‘A Chat Noir’ to describe such perfection.” Ladybug grinned at him, inviting him to share the joke, but he was still stuck on the endearments she had used for him.

“I hardly think I’d qualify as any kind of ‘bad boy’,” he managed to say, keeping his voice admirably level, if he did say so himself. He flicked his bell and the tiny jingle emphasized his point.

 “That’s what I thought too,” she said with a tinkling laugh. “But then, I suppose most of the public doesn’t see past the fit body in skintight black leather.”

She pointedly dragged her eyes down the length of his body, her smirk letting him know she was teasing, but setting his heart aflame, nonetheless. His years of practice as Adrien were the only thing keeping him together.

“Like what you see, m’lady? Red might be your color, but I think black would _suit_ you just fine.”

“And they definitely don’t see your terrible sense of humor,” she snorted, shoving him playfully.

“I’ll stop punning when you stop laughing,” he grinned at her. “So, did you convince your friends that I lack the qualifications for the title of ‘Paris’ perfect guy’?”

“Ha! Nope. For one, it wasn’t like that, everyone in that group is different and wants something different in a partner. You were just picked as perfect for… well, uh, one of us.” She cleared her throat.

“Second, I rather like that the concept of ‘unleashing one’s inner Chat Noir’ could be a thing.”

Chat froze. The phrase echoed in his head as it synced up with what Nino had told him.

“’Unleashing one’s inner Chat Noir’, m’lady? There’s no leash that could hold this kind of Chat back,” he recited the pun he’d come up with on autopilot, even as he hoped she’d pick up the line and go with it.

“Ugh, I walked into that one,” she groaned good naturedly. “But yeah, that’s more or less how my one friend put it, and I rather like it. Is that a thing guys do? Keep their wilder side hidden?” She sounded genuinely curious.

“Uh, well, I’m probably not the best person to ask about that, as my wild side literally runs around in a mask and cat ears.” He swiveled his ears for emphasis, and she laughed.

“Point taken, it came up when we were talking about a friend of ours. He has a very… public… life, and my one friend was theorizing that he’s totally repressed and one day he’ll snap and ‘unleash his inner Chat Noir’…”

Ladybug was still talking, but Chat couldn’t hear her over the buzzing sound that filled his head. His brain quickly filed through each girl he thought might possibly have been at that girls’ night, pausing briefly on Juleka before moving on, and finally landing on…

_Marinette._

There she was. The blue-black pigtails, the bright blue eyes, the little smirk that he had seen in groups but that was never directed at him unless they were both wearing masks.

_Marinette!_

Brave, beautiful, bold, brilliant Marinette, of course it was her. She had been so close this whole time, how had he never seen it before? But then, she had never seen him as-

“Chat?”

He snapped back to the present, where she was looking at him with some concern.

“So sorry m’lady,” he shook his head as his eyes refocused on her perfect lips. “My train of thought took a detour, what were you saying?” 

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but said “I was asking your opinion, on my friend, but now that I think about it, you might not be the most appropriate person to ask.”

Well, if this friend was who he thought it was, he was the PERFECT person to ask.

“You can ask me anything, you know,” he said, taking her hand. “I’m very discreet.”

“I know you are, it’s just…” she eyed him with vague concern again.

“This is my friend that I’ve been low-key in love with since I was 14, and it wasn’t very low-key back then, and I know you had some, well, feelings for me at the time, and I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Chat’s heart had stopped in his chest. She… she…

“My dearest Ladybug,” he said, clearing his throat a bit. “I am your friend first and foremost, and while my love for you is as immutable as the sun, I would be delighted to give you advice on your friend. GOOD advice even!”

He brought her hand up to kiss the back of it. 

She giggled, smiling at him affectionately, and he felt his heart swell at the sight. What he wouldn’t give to keep that smile on her face. What he wouldn’t give to see that smile on her face without the red and black mask!

“Ok then, but you tell me if I make you uncomfortable, ok? So, like I said, he’s had a pretty public life and has always had to act a certain way. He’s looser around our small group of friends, but it still feels like he’s holding back. My girlfriend is convinced he’s going to snap one day and go ‘Chat Noir’ on whoever is in front of him, and what a ride _THAT_ would be. Is that really likely?”

Chat swallowed hard. “I-I wouldn’t say ‘snapping’ is particularly likely, m’lady, and definitely not on whoever happens to be there. But given the right person and the right situation, I’d say it’s very likely that his Chat side would show at some point.”

“But not between the sheets and all at once without warning?” she asked with a teasing shoulder bump.

Chat couldn’t breathe. _‘Between the-‘_ , oh God, this woman was going to kill him, he just knew it. 

“I think it’s more likely that it would come out slowly, and  _definitely_ not ‘between the sheets’, not at first. That takes a particular level of trust, and building trust without masks on takes time,” he managed to squeak out.

“Here I’m trying to be playful and you go and say serious, beautiful things,” she said with a small smile. “For what it’s worth, Chat, my trust in you was built a long time ago.”

“Thank you, My Lady. That means everything to me.” He squeezed her hand.

“As for your friend,” he continued. “Well, I think if you want to bring out the ‘Chat’ side of him, you could start by talking to him like you talk to me. Assuming you don’t already! I mean, I just know that I act pretty differently in the suit than out of it…”

Ladybug laughed. “That’s exactly what I was thinking! And you’re right, Chaton, I do act pretty differently as a civilian, especially to him right now. Maybe I can pretend I’m talking to you and see where it gets me,” she added with a smile and a wink.

He smiled gently at her. “My bet would be that it will get you anywhere you want to go, My Lady.”

He drank in her smile as he sat beside her, looking out over the lights of Paris, and let the joy of his discovery finally wash through him. He couldn’t wait to see what Marinette would say to Adrien tomorrow.


	3. Coda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Topping it off with an Alya-colored bow. I'm actually done now

Alya had meant it when she told Marinette that the girls’ night teasing was just all in good fun. The whole point of those evenings was to get a little boozy and have a good time with their friends, bashing the various jerks who had broken their hearts in the process. Besides which, Marinette was not generally the type to take a little drunken banter to heart.

So it caught Alya by surprise when, over the course of the next few weeks, Marinette banished the shy, blushing persona she had always maintained around Adrien and instead became a briar-rose, bold and beautiful and ready to prick with the sharp wit Alya had rarely seen employed against anyone but herself. But her surprise at Marinette’s behavior was nothing compared to her astonishment as she saw how Adrien responded. The polite, demure, _boring_ young man gave way to a suave cavalier with an impressive repartee. She had even seen him smirking at Marinette during their banter. _Smirking!_ It seemed as if Alix may have been onto something. It might not be exactly ‘Chat Noir’ level, but Adrien definitely looked at Marinette differently than he did at anyone else, and after the two of them _finally,_ officially started dating, she did wonder what exactly she wasn’t allowed to see.

Marinette was no help in that department, giving Alya a smirk of her own.

“A Lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”

“Ok, but at least tell me if Alix had it right that all that repressed energy would come out in the bedroom.”

Though she remained resolutely silent, Marinette’s smirk only grew, along with the saucy look in her eye.

Alya wondered if there wasn’t something to that girls’ night advice after all.

Her fears resurfaced, however, a few weeks after _Adrienette_ came into being, when the pair of lovebirds had what appeared to be a massive fight. Or rather, Marinette was royally pissed at Adrien, who seemed to be accepting all the blame for whatever this was. A fight this early in a relationship was concerning, but she was actually more alarmed that Marinette refused to tell her what it was even about.

“It’s just something he should have told me about a month ago, Alya, and he didn’t. Drop it.”

Under all normal circumstances, Alya would NOT have dropped it, but as it happened, that incident coincided with Ladybug and Chat Noir losing their synchronicity for the first time in anyone’s memory. The little mishaps and prolonged battles were bad for the heroes and bad for Paris, but they were a dream for the curator of the Ladyblog, who now worked countless hours picking apart theories, writing analysis of battles, and fielding the massive uptick in visitors to her site. Her work was being picked up by news outlets and she had to find creative ways to increase the bandwidth of her servers, and while she felt a little guilty, her friend’s relationship problems slipped to the back of her mind.

Finally, a near-death incident for Chat seemed to snap the super-duo out of their funk. Alya’s proximity to the battle had earned her a video of Ladybug desperately screaming his name as she landed by his unmoving body, followed by the magical ladybugs restoring him and then the pair escaping from view, clinging tightly to each other. This incredible footage was solid gold for any journalist, and Alya spent the next week doing interviews, writing editorials, and fending off advertisers who wanted in on the astounding level of traffic on her blog.

By the time she came up for air, Adrien and Marinette had moved past whatever their problem was. She would never have expected it to be the same, but they seemed to be more in love with each other than ever.

Every time she saw the expression in Adrien’s eyes as he looked at her best friend, she wondered again about the conversations from that girls’ night.

It was with these thoughts in her head that Alya woke up in the early morning and looked at the beautiful, broad shoulders that belonged to Nino, sleeping next to her in his bed, his arms wrapped around the pillow that his upper body was pressed into. Never, in the several months that they had been occasionally sleeping together, had she still been there when he woke up. They weren’t dating. She hadn’t even told Marinette about the friends-with-benefits status, and Nino had said he hadn’t told Adrien. Their… ‘compatibility’… was excellent, and their friendship was intact. Mornings-after would just make things complicated, she had told herself, and Nino hadn’t been complaining.

But this morning, as she looked at him, the advice from her friends echoed in her head.

_That’s just what you tell yourself to keep yourself from getting hurt._

_Could be if you’d give it a chance._

_As for his kissing ability, you’ll have to find that out for yourself._

Well, that was one thing Alya COULD account for, and she felt her heart rate pick up as she recounted the… events… of last night.

Steeling her resolve, she made a decision.

She stayed.

It was several hours later that she was gently pulled out of the doze she’d fallen back into by an arm wrapping around her middle and a soft kiss pressed to her shoulder. Rolling over, she blinked bleary eyed up into Nino’s smiling face.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey yourself,” she couldn’t help but smile back a bit, he was so cute.

“You’re still here.”

“I am.”

“Is… everything ok? You’ve never stayed until morning before.”

“Depends on what your definition of morning is.” She saw his smile fade just a fraction and immediately regretted that _smartass_ was her default mode. This was the moment of truth. 

“I…” she began uncertainly. “I was wondering… if… if you’d want to go get some breakfast with me?”

He looked down at her questioningly, his smile growing into a sly crooked grin.

“What, like a date?”

In retrospect, perhaps naked-in-his-bed was not the best position to have put herself in for this moment. It took every ounce of bravery Alya had not to immediately make a joke of it, brush it off, play it cool.

“Yeah, like a date. An actual date.”

He held her eyes.

She held her breath. 

Then he smiled, a full toothy smile that lit up his face and twinkled in his eyes and oh, how had she ever thought he was only just _cute_ before? Beaming, he brushed her hair back from her face and stroked his thumb across her cheek.

“I’d really, _really_ love that,” he said, as he leaned down to kiss her good morning properly.


End file.
